Launched on 27 April in Abuja, the EUR 8 million programme will finance field projects that support agro-ecological intensification on family farms in five West African countries: Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Senegal and Togo. Read on

Members of the Food Crisis Prevention Network (RPCA) gathered from 16-18 April 2018 at OECD headquarters in Paris to validate the final results of the 2017-18 agro-pastoral campaign and take stock of the food and nutrition situation. The Network estimates that 7.1 million people are in need of urgent food and nutrition assistance, of which 3.7 million are in northeastern Nigeria. Read on

The food and nutrition situation is severely deteriorating in parts of the Sahelian belt. According to the Cadre harmonisé analysis, nearly 7.1 million people currently face a crisis situation, especially in zones that are still plagued by insecurity, including in the Lake Chad basin, the Liptako-Gourma region and central Mali. The number of people in need of assistance could reach 10.6 million by June-August 2018. Read on

The food economy is the biggest employer in West Africa accounting for 66% of total employment. This OECD West African Paper aims to contribute to the debate by quantifying and describing the current structure of employment in the West African food economy and by looking at some of the emerging spatial and territorial implications linked to the sector’s transformations. Read on

The most recent issue of the Swiss Foreign Affairs Magazine Politorbis is dedicated to the fight against famine, including an article on the Sahel and West Africa region, produced by the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD). It reviews the region’s progress in the fight against food insecurity over the past 30 years. By taking more co-ordinated and collective action, we can work more efficiently and have greater impact. Read on

Within the framework of the Food Crisis Prevention Framework (RPCA), CILSS and its partners organised a PREGEC regional technical consultation on 26-28 March 2018 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso to present the final results of the 2017-18 agro-pastoral campaign and discuss key findings from the Cadre harmonisé analysis. Cereal production in the region is estimated at 67.7 million tonnes, up by 2.5% and 11.7% compared to the 2016-17 campaign and the five-year average, respectively. Read on

The 7th CILSS Steering Committee meeting was opened on 16 March in Lomé. It provided an opportunity to take stock of current regional programmes implemented by CILSS and its development partners. Three major programmes were the focus of discussions. Read on

CILSS leaders gathered on 7 February in Niamey for the 18th ordinary session of the Conference of Heads of State and Government. Organised back-to-back with the G5 Sahel summit, six presidents (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) as well the Prime Minister of Togo participated in the event. Discussions focused on how to advance reforms of the 45-year old institution and how to provide the institution with sustainable financing. Read on

On 5 February, CILSS and the World Bank signed a new funding agreement worth USD 20 million for the Sahel Irrigation Initiative Regional Support Project (PARIIS). The project covers six Sahelian countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal) and aims to improve stakeholders’ capacity to develop and manage irrigation and increase irrigated areas in the Sahel by 2024. Read on

Food is particularly expensive for households in sub-Saharan Africa – relative to their incomes. Prices are 30-40% higher than in the rest of the world with comparable per capita GDP levels. In West Africa, markets provide at least two-thirds of household food supplies and households spend an average of 55% of their budgets on food. “Transforming the food economy is key to lowering prices,” explains Thomas Allen from the Sahel and West Africa Club Secretariat (SWAC/OECD) in an article published on the OECD Development Matters blog. Read on